Thursday, July 05, 2007

I heard about this a few days ago and I was kindof hoping if I ignored it it would go away. It's now doing the rounds on the mainstream and alternative media. Someone out there (we'll get to who in a minute) has launched a new cultural phenomenon... Trashing the wedding dress. And it's being presented as some sort of feminist/women's power thing. It's classic advertisers capitalising on the fact that a lot of women are not all that comfortable in a big frilly dress any more and figuring out a way to turn that into extra revenue for business.

Who benefits from wedding dress trashing:

1) Wedding dress makers

2) Photographers (who have been the main drivers behind the launch of the new "phenomenon")

Who loses:

1) Whoever has to pay for all that stuff.

2) Whoever might have bought or borrowed the dress in the future.

3) The planet, from the extra waste.

4) The bride who gets dragged through a muddy ditch while the rest of the guests are sipping bubbly. Not to mention that half the "trash the dress" photos actually make the bride look dead, as though women were used once on the wedding night and then disposed of with the morning trash.

And the rational response... If you don't want to get married - don't. Live alone, live in sin, sleep around. If you do want to get married and you don't want to wear a big dress - don't. Your wedding, do it your way. Traditions are there for you to pick and choose what you want*. If you do want to get married and you do want a big dress, pass it on to someone who might not be able to afford such a dress. Or do what my mum (not pictured!) did - get married in a white mini-dress, then sew a bit of multi-coloured ribbon round the bottom and wear it as a party dress for the next few years.

*For instance, I've been to a bunch of weddings lately and all my friends agree that the throwing the bouquet over your shoulder and the other women fighting for it is rubbish, we're not desperate to get married and we don't have any desire to fight with each other. So no-one has done that. On the other hand cake, speeches, lots of alcohol - those were kept in.